Payback
by Cypher-SB
Summary: Halloween 2071, tricks and treats for everyone. For one person in Denver there are neither tricks or treats this night, but a little revenge that's been two months in the making.


Augur certainly was not the kind of person you might have expected to be a technomancer. At least, assuming you actually knew him outside of the virtual world of the matrix. That was because Augur was not an elf or a human, but a troll.

Not being very physical as a child seemed to be a curse at the time. While maybe as strong or tough as any unaugmented human at their peak, compared to many trolls he was below average. Being an albino, and legally blind, did not help much, either. He even could not make up for this by being quick or agile for a troll. No, he was slow and a klutz even by troll standards.

Things changed in the late 2060's when he emerged. While physical skills proved neigh impossible for him to get, computers and the web work of data that was the matrix came to him as easily as a duck took to water. With his newfound gifts he got virtual revenge against those who had tormented him the most. Soon afterwards he dove deep into the matrix to wipe his identity away, cutting the threads to the data that was his records and SIN, and fled to the one place where technomancers were safe. Now Augur lived in the underground complex that was the Denver Data Haven.

The tiny, bright blue-white neon spider that was Augur crept along a glowing, white line of code. It was Halloween, and the trick-or-treaters were out in force despite the cold snap that had hit Denver, and there was a lot of kids and parents recording for their MeFeed accounts.

It was when a needle thin leg touched a strand of code that Augur paused. Unlike the other lines of code Augur frequently walked, this one was orange, and flickering to red or yellow. Curiosity won over and he scurried down this new thread.

The node he found was in the CAS sector based on its ID tag, and after walking around the outside of it found it to be too irresistible to ignore. With a thought he called up one of his sprites, tasking it to help him through the node's firewall while he pulled on the resonance to sharpen his virtual fangs. His neon fangs were more than needle sharp as they bit into the web work of code that was the node, and in seconds he was in.

The node's sculpting began to override Augur's neon spider look, turning him into something that looked like an androgynous human with a set of four spider legs sprouting from his back.

The node itself was made to look like it was the Edo period in Japan. At least that was what it was supposed to look like, as right now it looked like hackers had broken in and were now in the middle of a serious fight against the white hats. The white hats were easy to spot, their icons made to look like a shogun's samurai with their armor, masks, and gleaming katanas.

The hackers were also just as easy to spot, starkly standing out like futuristic warriors. One of them looked like he was wearing black military grade armor underneath a beige robe, with glowing red eyes, and a pair of sci-fi looking pistols that he used to shoot bolts of disruptive code at the samurai.

Augur ducked just in time to avoid another of the hackers. This one also looked like it was wearing similar armor, but was as big as a grizzly bear. The look was accentuated by the set of four silvery blades that extended from its massive hands. Then something hit Augur when he saw it eviscerate a samurai.

The grizzly bear sized icon was no hacker or agent, but a tank sprite! He could feel the weight of the resonance behind it, an implacable foe as samurai blades bounced off its shielded armor as if they were reeds to stone.

Once the samurai were dealt with the hackers and sprite moved on to a portal and vanished. A quick scan told Augur that the portal was a wired connection to another node, protected by what once was a very strong firewall that was now full of holes. It was easy enough for him to slip through.

The sculpting in the next node was a stark contemporary version, with glaring white walls and filing cabinets as far as the eye could see.

One of the hackers and the sprite were again fighting off white hats, but the third tore apart one filing cabinet after another. Those that were not hit were encrypted, but the opened ones had their encryption broken for anyone to read. When he pulled up a data file to examine he felt his blood chill.

The data file was a complete biography and medial report on a technomancer girl that was only seven years old. On top of that, on the front page of the open ARO was a live trideo feed of her in an isolation room.

"You." he heard a chorus of a dozen people say at once. Looking up from the technomancer girl's file ARO he saw the robed icon with a pistol aimed right at his head. A quick scan made his heart skip a beat, and he really did not want to feel the disruptive code from the resonance bolstered attack program he held.

"I'm not with them!" Augur cried, raising his hands and his four spider legs into the air. He could feel threads of data snaking towards him.

Apparently the technomancer believed him, holstering the pistol and ending the trace before it finished. "If you know someone in the Haven, let them know about what you found here." he said. The dozen voices as one sounded so wiz and so frightening at the same time.

Augur could feel more happening with the node than could be seen. The ironclad web that was its firewall was being shredded. In seconds even a hacker wannabe with simple exploit software would be able to log in.

Grabbing a strand of data Augur held on tight to a copy of the file and yanked himself out into the real world. He sat up with a shot, his heart pounding like he had just ran a kilometer in a minute. Checking his commlink he found that the file he found had come with him.

Now all he had to do was find someone who was still up to figure out what to do next.

* * *

Detective Jack Diamond wondered how law enforcement worked a century ago. How long would it have taken then for the raid to happen that had taken less than ten minutes tonight.

And what was it about Halloween that seemed to bring out the really crazy people? The anonymous tip that Knight Errant had received at the late hour in the night had almost been chalked up to one of the many youthful pranks they had received earlier, until one of their security hackers broke protocol and actually followed the link that the tipster had given.

Less than an hour later the home of a respectable Japanese businessman had been raided and he was called in to begin an investigation that involved two cold missing persons cases.

"Detective! Over here!" someone called.

"What is it?" Jack asked once he was close enough to not have to yell.

The person was another Knight Errant officer. With him was an EMT from a local hospital in the CAS sector who was tending a girl who was maybe six or seven years old. She looked very frightened as she sat at the back of an ambulance, wearing an oversized t-shirt that was a solid rose pink in color, but otherwise looked unharmed.

"We just ran a biometrics check and got a match on her." the officer said, speaking softly and directly towards Jack so the girl might not hear. "Came back Sharlyn Tomlinson, missing almost six months now."

Jack pulled out his commlink out of his pocket and thumbed the display. Hers had been one of the kidnapping cases he had loaded on it. He held it up to compare the image on the display screen to the little girl sitting before him now.

"Sharlyn?" Jack asked, kneeling down in front of the girl.

She looked at Jack, her brown eyes wide with fear.

"My name's Jack. I'm a detective with the police." Jack said, trying to sound as kind and gentle as he could. "Can you tell me what happened tonight?"

"They said I'd get to go home." Sharlyn said. "Can I go home?"

"Well, we gotta call your mommy first." Jack said, not knowing if her parents had been notified yet or not. "But who said you'd get to go home?"

"They were weird. A bunch of people talking the same thing at the same time." Sharlyn said.

"Do they have names?" Jack asked.

"It was funny. They all said their name was 'Sigh-fur.' How can a bunch of people have the same name?" Sharlyn said slowly.

"I don't know, but if I find any of them I'll ask. Thank you." Jack said, smiling. Then he stood and walked off with the other officer.

"Alright, got anything I can work with?" Jack asked.

"The officer that logged in first found the node in shambles." the officer said, "And I mean worse than Lu Com was back in April."

"How could it be worse?" Jack asked.

"No nodes were crashed, but everything was torn up. No one would need anything to get into the network. And from what we got there's a lot that Morikawa didn't want anyone to know."

Jack did not have to look at his commlink to recognize that name. Masatoshi Morikawa was Yakuza, and had been questioned once regarding the disappearance of a ten year old boy in the area. He had been quickly discounted as a person of interest when no evidence was found to connect Morikawa to the boy.

Looking around at the scene Jack could guess why. Along with the one ambulance where Sharlyn was there were four more, each with a different person in it being tended to by a medic.

"Kids, all of 'em." the officer told Jack, "Oldest's probably fifteen, but he's not a SINner so we've got no records."

"Anything these kids have in common?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, they're all technomancers."

Jack quickly turned and looked the officer dead in the eye.

"And that's not all." the officer said, leading Jack into Morikawa's home, and out of earshot of just about everyone else. When he was sure no one else was listening he said in a hushed voice, "We're pretty sure that one hacker did all of this."

"I hope you've got an idea who if you're telling me this." Jack said.

"Yeah, we do. He intentionally left a signature behind. It's Cypher."

"You're sure it's Cypher?" Jack asked.

"Our own hackers already confirmed that the entire network here's been compromised, copied, and already up for anyone to read." the officer told him. "Legal's got everything to string Morikawa up by his toes, but whatever high priced lawyer he gets is gonna have everything as well."

"Do we have anyone in the node right now?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Hang on and I'll get him for you."

Jack held up his commlink like it was a sixty year old cell phone.

"Preston." a voice said.

"Detective Jack Diamond." Jack returned. "What can you tell me about Morikawa's network?"

"Everything. Anything." Preston answered.

"Start with timing. Just how long did this take?"

"Five minutes and twelve seconds, from the first breach to when the hacker logged off."

"And the quality of the network's defenses?"

"It's a tiered network. Each node's gotta be logged into individually to get into the next, and only the front node's wireless. High quality software for the front node, too, and even though the rest is wired they had some serious software."

"How serious?"

"Like the kind the megas use." Preston said with dead seriousness. "Morikawa's security hackers got black ice that could kill in a hit."

"What's the status on the security hackers?" Jack asked the officer next to him.

"Last report I got was they're all suffering dumpshock."

"What've we got on the access logs?" Jack asked Preston.

"Two separate hackers broke in during the five minutes, but one of them only got into the second node, copied a file, and left. It also looks like after the first broke in he uploaded two agents to assist."

"And what kind of damage are we talking here?"

"If I just went by looks I'd say this was Tehran after Aden went on his rampage. When I dig into the code I can see a lot of precision shredding of the programs. It looks like the first hacker busted in, then went back and shredded the firewalls in each node at the same time."

"And how's this compared to Lu Com?" Jack asked.

"Lu Com was a smash job. Nodes crashed and such, like a thrill-gang bar fight. Morikawa's network was targeted, fucked up like the town whore on fleet week, and put on display like Horizon's next virtual billboard."

Something sparked in Jack Diamond's mind. He remembered a preteen boy he had talked to about the Lu Com hacking the day after it had happened. For a moment he wondered if the boy hacker was Cypher.

* * *

It was early Sunday afternoon when Dean finally woke. Halloween at the Tower Of Babel had been crazy. Crazy fun, that is.

After a hot shower it was time for lunch. With AR contacts and earbuds on he walked into the kitchen to fix up lunch. Almost right away he saw a flagged news article, and with a gesture he opened the video. He half listened to it as he prepared lunch.

"Acting on an apparent tip from an anonymous source, Knight Errant performed an early morning raid on the home of Masatoshi Morikawa earlier today. The warrant served turned up three missing children, all of whom disappeared over the last seven months, along with two more SINless children whom are now in custody of Child Protective Services."

"We have no information on who provided us the tip," came a recording of Jack Diamond, "but we really appreciate the citizen who came forward to help us bring these missing children home."

Dean paused the news article, and his meal preparation to bring up a transcript of the news report. Skimming through it he found a reference to Morikawa's node having been hacked before Knight Errant had gotten their tip. He then began searching for more related reports, including some of the shadier matrix sites he knew. What he found surprised him.

On one site that was a well known public front for the Denver Data Haven was an immense collection of files from Morikawa's personal, and until now very private, network. Every pulse of data that had been the Yakuza member's private network was laid out like a medical examiner's corpse for everyone and anyone to read. Highlighted were files on five individual kids, each one of them confirmed to be a technomancer.

"Morikawa was doing this?" Dean asked himself. He may have been a hacker for one of Denver's crime families, the Casquilho's, but even this was something he found deplorable. Kidnapping children to be in your private stable of hackers was just unthinkable to him.

Scrolling back up to the beginning Dean noticed a name that made him feel just a little relieved, but again a little bit nervous.

Only one hacker was claiming responsibility for the hacking, shredding, and public display of every bit of data on Masatoshi Morikawa: Cypher. That one hacker, Dean knew, was a twelve year old boy.

His commlink chimed with an invite to a private chat.

* * *

It was mid afternoon when Tabby received a text from one of her contacts. It simply said, "You've must see this. O_O" Knowing the contact had reliable information she hit the link.

An ARO of a news report opened up, the image showing a woman reporter. It started playback right away.

"Masatoshi Morikawa was arrested early this morning on three charges of kidnapping after Knight Errant received an anonymous tip that the member of the Yakuza was holding them captive. On top of that, rumors abound that this anonymous tipster is a hacker that had purportedly broken into Morikawa's central home node and private network before giving Knight Errant the tip, along with enough information for them to obtain and serve a warrant within the hour.

"According to the data from Morikawa's private network, which is apparently available to anyone to review now, the Yakuza member was holding five children, the oldest a fifteen year old SINless boy, as slaves. Allegedly each of these children is a technomancer, according to the released data. We currently have not ascertained whether or not this is true."

Tabby hit pause on the recording. Wondering why her contact might have sent her this link she called up someone. Most of this was not news to her now as this had been the hit story in The Denver Daily and more since the crack of dawn.

"Yes?" Dean Castello asked.

"It's Tabby." Tabby said.

"Let me guess. It's about the Morikawa job, right?"

"How'd you know?"

"It's all over the news, and then some."

"I haven't looked yet, but figured you'd be in the know. Who's the hacker?"

"Cypher." Dean said.

"Seriously?"

"He left a signature at the scene and sent a copy of everything to the Haven. He wasn't subtle about this at all."

Tabby felt like cussing under her breath. This was completely unlike Cypher to do. He knew the risks of doing the stupid shit. But then she remembered the news report mentioning the technomancer connection between the kids.

"Wasn't the youngest kid recovered a seven year old girl?" Tabby asked.

"Yeah. Supposedly a techno too, why?"

"Supposedly all technos." Tabby corrected. Her heart twinged at the thought of someone figuring out Cypher was also a technomancer. He was also right in the middle of the age range of the kidnapped children, including the SINless.

"You okay?" Dean asked.

"Wha? Yeah." Tabby went, still a little lost in thought. "Sure it was Cypher?"

"There's no doubt, though I doubt the Knight's gonna say it."

"What about the network and security?"

"Network looked like a dog's used chew toy. And whatever security there was got seriously fucked up."

"How seriously?" Tabby asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.

"A dozen dumpshocked or worse." Dean said morosely.

Tabby suddenly felt weak in the knees. She had dropped to the floor, kneeling, before she had even realized it.

"Look, I know you're into this kid…"

"It's not like that!" snapped Tabby.

"Not saying it is," Dean quickly said, "but we've both used him. I'll admit it, I like the kid too."

"Guess it took longer than he thought." Tabby absently said.

"What took longer?"

Tabby looked at the floor before answering. "Couple months ago I tried to get him and his partner off a job. Thought it was already too dangerous and that they'd get killed. Few weeks before that, when I referred him to a team for help, he almost got killed."

"Shit."

They both knew it was a risk to shadowrunners. Not every job was easy, most of them were not, but all of them had an element of danger that meant it could be the last job for the foolhardy. She had hoped that Cypher, despite being twelve, was not that foolhardy. At least he had not seemed that way when she first met him back in February.

"I totally thought he'd be pissed at me for it, for almost getting them killed. Cypher told me he wasn't mad at me at all. Said to give him a few days and I'd know how if he was."

"And this Morikawa's got a data trail to runners for kidnapping technos. It's all in that data that's been released." Dean added. "If this kid's a technomancer…"

Tabby did not finish that sentence. She felt she did not have to.

"Hey Dean, thanks." Tabby finally said softly before ending the call.

She had no idea which to be more afraid of: Afraid of Cypher if he ever really got angry at her, or afraid for Cypher for whatever repercussions might be heading his way.

* * *

Sometimes the creativity and inspiration hits like a bolt of lighting. This little bit I threw together in a few hours, and mostly to wrap up something that I hinted at near the end of Backlash in Shadows Of Denver.


End file.
